


You Belong To Me

by choriarty



Category: The Avengers (2012), Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-10-19
Updated: 2013-03-22
Packaged: 2017-11-16 15:36:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/541060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/choriarty/pseuds/choriarty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve only realizes how he feels about Phil after it's too late.</p><p>Obviously the only way to fix this is to fight for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [orb01](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=orb01).



It had taken Steve a long time to come to terms with himself, especially raised in a household such as his. It was as if his whole life before a year ago, his house, his family, his values, were all stuck in the 40’s. Steve’s mother and father dressed as if they lived in that period (and dressed the boy that way as well, that that is was bad), the interior of their entire house was the same.

Then, last year, Steve’s parents had decided to finally stop home-schooling him. He was just going into grade 11, and they wanted him to have an ‘authentic senior experience’. It was more than a bit awkward for him, since he had been living in the neighbourhood for almost his entire life and yet never went to the school. He did not know any kids his age other than the boy across the street- his best friend- Bucky. Even Bucky went to school.

Steve was never allowed to go because he was sick for a good portion of his life. He had terrible asthma; exercise-induced, virus-induced, allergy-induced, you name it. Every cold he got was ten times worse and lasted three times as long, every time he tried to run for anything like a lap he would be out of breath with his lungs burning, and allergic reactions were terrifying. Steve had broken out in puffy, body-covering hives when he touched the neighbourhood stray cat.

But everything got better when Steve hit the metaphorical lottery. His doctor had recommended a new treatment, one that was just being tested. Steve leapt at the opportunity.

There were rumours of others who had taken the same treatment, but hadn't survived. Either way, Steve did. His asthma problems were reduced significantly, and in fact, he barely got sick ever again. Whatever the treatment was, it worked miracles. His immune system was boosted immensely, and the boy found it easier to get fit when he worked out or exercised.

However, it was another year until his parents actually let him go to school.

And that was where he met Phil Coulson.

Phil was seemingly not very special at all. He looked like the average-est of joes to most people, and was mostly left alone to his own devices. He said he was fine with that, honestly. He would have it no other way. Phil was not the student council president (that was Nick) or even vice president (Maria), to be completely truthful no one had any idea what spot he had in the group. Everyone knew he was in it somewhere, pulling strings and organizing get-togethers, but he did not have an official title. He was not the secretary, the treasurer, or anything their group knew of. However when anyone ever came to a dance or saw a poster for an event, Phil was somewhere on the stage announcing things or his name plastered on the bottom somewhere.

It had taken Steve a long time to come to terms with himself, with the old-fashioned values and everything, but it had really taken one last spark to make him see this crystal clear.

Phil Coulson had appeared to get a girlfriend

and it made Steve jealous.

 

Oh crud, he was so in love with him.


	2. From the sidelines

Phil and May were the couple of the year, the decade even. The entire school talked about them, how cute they were and how perfect they were together. There were those dumb combined-names, and then the (Steve will never admit they are good) other names. ‘Mr. and Mrs. Robinson’, ‘The Spy and The Reporter’ (May was the head editor of the school paper), and many others. No matter the person, no matter what nickname they used, it was the general consensus of the school that they were meant for each other.

General consensus- except for Steve of course.

They were ‘too close’ for him, they smiled too much, laughed too much, everything seemed ‘too much’ to him. Perhaps it was his old-fashioned upbringing, perhaps it was just how he looked at it,

perhaps because it was not with Steve.

Whatever he thought of it, and whatever the reasons for those thoughts were, it did not matter. What did matter was the fact that they consumed him for a good chunk of two weeks. Steve did not get any work done in class, he did not listen to his friends and their drama, he floated through school and daily life like a ghost. Nothing piqued his interest or caught his attention, all he could think of was static.

There were moments when his brain snapped back into clarity, moments when he caught May and Phil laughing by each other’s lockers, talking and beaming in the hallways, sitting together in class, being happy. In those moments there was one thought that flashed through Steve’s mind.

“That should be me.”

“What should be you, wonder boy?”

Steve jumped in his seat, forgetting that Tony Stark had been sitting right next to him as he stared at the famous couple across the room. The kid-millionaire had his eyebrows raised in an innocent fashion, which was to say it was not innocent at all. He was grinning like a man who knew too much and wanted to hear it anyway.

Not good.

Tony Stark was the millionaire child prodigy of the century. Son of Howard Stark and everything, the kid inherited his brains and more. Steve would normally never be friends with someone like him, the guy who parties every night and has a new girl on his arm every other hour, but somehow they found each other. Tony was actually a good guy, he found. He donated a good chunk of his money to charities, always was trying to invent something that would help others, and being a good kid in general. Steve never expected that in a kid like him, but it was true.

Though how much Tony managed to butt into everything was not one of his better qualities.

“N-nothing,” Steve blurted a bit too fast. “I was just zoning out, that’s all.”

Tony squinted harder at him, obviously not buying the lie. “Nuh-uh. Spit it out, Rogers.”

“Nothing.”  
“Really now.”  
“Nothing.”  
“Tell me.”  
“Nothing!”

“Something to share with the rest of the class, Mr. Rogers?” The teacher butted in. Both boys turned a ghostly white and shut their mouths.

“Nothing.” They both said in unison.

\- - -

Tony watched him like a hawk for the rest of the day. In fact, it seemed that with each hour one more of his friends began to eye him suspiciously. Steve had caught Clint, Bruce, and Thor on several occasions (though he was sure that Natasha was also watching him, not that she would allow him to catch her). Each time they locked gazes the other would quickly look another way, as if the gibberish on the whiteboard was suddenly a million times more interesting.

Tony Stark was a dirty gossip.

It was expected that everyone and their cats swarmed Steve at lunch time.

“You have a crush.”  
“Who is it?”  
“It’s safe to tell us.”  
“Someone we know, right?”  
“Have you made any moves?”

Steve simply clapped his hands over his ears and walked away. He did not need this right now. Thankfully, Bruce and Natasha covered him as he stormed out of the room. As he glanced back, he saw their worried expressions and felt a pang of guilt.

He would tell them, just not now.

He had not told anyone yet.

It was not like he needed to tell anyone. Really- the subject was irrelevant and had no need to be brought up. He was sure that other already knew but did not say anything.

However, Steve was still nervous about coming out.

If he did not, then that meant that Phil would suspect less until then, right? That was a good thing...

\- - -

Steve spent the rest of the day watching Phil and May once more. He did not stand out doing this, since they were pretty much the school celebrity couple. Everyone was watching them. He was not any different in doing this. It did not hurt when Phil did not notice or return his glance, it did not hurt when the two were stuck in their own little world.

It hurt a lot when Phil did notice Steve, when he caught the boy’s eye and smiled, waving a ‘hello’. That hurt the most. The two were best friends, so of course he would wave. Steve would hesitantly raise his hand and weakly return the gesture. At this, the other boy would beam and return to whatever he was laughing about with May.

Yeah. It hurt a lot.

Then it was hockey practice, and Steve had to shake himself from the dumb funk he was in. He was the captain of the team and he had to get his act together, for them if anyone. He mentally shook himself and laced up his skates, time to go.

The school’s hockey team was known all across the district; SHIELD Academy’s Avengers. Steve really had no opinion on the name except the fact that he was happy it was not an animal or bug. Those bugged him to no end. The team joked that they sounded like a bunch of superheroes, and decided to make names for each other.

An inside joke, really.

When Steve stepped onto the rink, most of his team was already there. They all looked at him as he entered, but their faces betrayed no look of curiosity for today’s earlier gossip. The captain of the team had made it loud and clear that gossip was not welcome on the rink at the beginning of the year, and everyone was professional.

Tony Stark leaned against the glass at one end of the rink, playing with his stick. Clint Barton had stopped skating laps with Natasha Romanov to look at Steve. Bruce Banner was stretching on the side, using the wall as his brace. Thor stood in the net.

Steve nodded to them. “Let’s get started so we can go home early.”

\- - -

The practice was mediocre if anything. Not bad- but not the best. Everyone had something on their mind, and that included Steve. He had tried his best to shove Phil from his thoughts, but it did not stick. The boy sighed and finished unlacing his skates, stepping on the occasional snow clump back to his locker.

He turned the lock (20, 0, 24) and it came open with a metallic whine. The boy expected to throw his gear in and get out of the building before dinner, but like most expectations this one was interrupted.

A piece of paper floated down from inside and landed on the ground in front of Steve’s feet. He gave it a puzzled expression and stooped to pick it up. The paper was not lined, it was a pale orange. On it was a simple message.

‘Fight for him, dummy.’


	3. The Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony knows something is up with Steve, and Steve mulls over the note he got.
> 
> Meanwhile, Phil is missing his best friend.

Tony Stark wanted to know what the hell was up with Steve Rogers. He had started acting weird after the thing happened.

However, recently he had begun to act even more strange. He never talked to anyone anymore, he always stared off into space-- hell, whatever it was had started affecting his game too. The whole team could see it, even if it was just small things. Steve was always calm and collected during practice, no matter what happened. Now there was some kind of uneasy expression that appeared every once in awhile.

Obviously only Tony could fix this.

“Tony, don’t.”

Bruce gave him a concerned look from his end of the table, knowing exactly what was running through the boy’s mind. He always knew, even if he did not know he knew. Tony liked that about their relationship. They had those telepathic conversations all the time. The millionaire decide to try and have one right now instead of talking.

“No. Speak using words from your mouth.” Bruce interrupted.

“We have telepathic conversations and you know it, Banner.”

“That’s not what this is about.”

“Oh? Then what?”

“Tony.”

“What?!”

“I know you want to stick your nose into Steve’s personal life.”

Tony smiled wide and his eyes gleamed with success. “See! I knew I couldn’t be the only one to notice! What do you think is up? Parents divorce, school nemesis, or maybe he was abducted and replaced by aliens.”

Bruce sighed audibly, to make sure Tony knew that he did not want to acknowledge this foolish train of thought. Obviously he had been thinking about it too, with the concern in his eyes and his rehearsed answer. He had gone over the possibilities before.

“His parents love each other too much to divorce, Steve isn’t the type to hold a grudge or hate someone without reason, and no.”

“Good, that was a test.”

“No it wasn’t."

“Shush. That is not the point. The point,” Tony wrapped an arm around his best friend and pulled him close, earning a grunt and eye roll. “is that our Steve friend is hiding something from us. Obviously we’re going to go mystery twins on this and solve the case.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“You totally want to do it.”

Bruce sighed, but did not bother to deny his friend. Tony smiled in triumph and began listing possibilities and terrible plans.

\- - -

Steve lay in bed and thought. He thought about the day’s events, the note, and how terribly cliche it was for him to be pondering these things while in bed. Did every character do that in one chapter or another? It was dumb.

But really, with everything going on, he would not be surprised if his life was slowly descending into a kind of story.

The boy was well aware of what the note meant and who it meant, though he did not want to believe it. There was nothing else it could have meant unless it was for another person, which made it harder to deny. He had already gone over the lockers. They all had each team member’s name on them.

Who was the culprit? The pale orange colour of it meant some kind of decorative or craft paper, instead of lined; that either made it distinctly harder or easier to catch them. It was probably impossible to track the handwriting, since it looked perfectly average and unassuming.

Steve’s heart was suddenly filled with an unjust frustration at this person. How did they know? How did they know he liked Phil? Were they going to keep harassing him? Would they reveal it to the entire school? 

Would they tell Phil?

He clenches on the bed sheets until his knuckles go white but then the angry is all at once gone, replaced with guilt. Steve had no right to suspect that of this person. He did not know them and could therefore make no sudden conclusions.

No, this was not about them- whoever they were. This was about Phil.

Steve was perfectly content with sitting on the sidelines in his love life forever, in that he honestly was not. Part of him did not want to do anything, did not want to interfere with his friend’s life and make him uncomfortable. What if he did not feel the same? What if him telling his feelings would only make things complicated and awkward?

That part of him was content with never doing anything and waiting until this feeling went away. Then again, there was another side of him as well. The side that did not want to give up. It wanted Phil badly.

All of those times together, laughing and bonding, he wanted those again but more intimate. Holding hands, going out, maybe even kissing. That side of him was unsatisfied with waiting and losing its chance forever.

Steve looked at the crumpled note in his hand one last time. It was dark, and he could barely make out the faint orange colour and text.

Fight for him, eh? Sounded like a good idea.

\- - - 

Phil was almost certainly sure that Steve Rogers was avoiding him. The never talked in class anymore, nor met at one another’s lockers. They never spent hours on the phone talking or wasted the day at each other’s house. His life began to feel somewhat empty and hollow, missing a friend that he wishes he did not have to.

The boy’s life was now filled with May Parker. They did things that him and Steve used to do. They joked in class, they waited by the other’s locker, they went out to movies and lunches. The last things, Phil did not do so much with his best friend. At the moment he almost wished he had. She was not the same as Steve.

May was funny. She made those dry kinds of jokes that only a handful got (which included Phil) and she smiled a lot. The girl was also very skilled at all sorts of things, things that most girls utter an ‘ew’ at. She was in several types of martial arts, yoga, cooking classes, and a million other things. She liked to take care of her little nephew, Peter, on the weekends. Him and Phil had already met.

May was almost too perfect; and she was not just his ‘girlfriend’, but also a best friend.

Though... still not as much of a best friend as Steve Rogers. Looking at how things were going between the two boys now, they might not be for much longer. It made Phil sad thinking about that, and he did not like to.

He did not want him and Steve to drift apart. The thought almost hurt, it made his chest tighten and his stomach flip. The boy had been his best friend since they met, and they had been inseparable since.

Phil regretted missing hockey practice, that used to be the highlight of his day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Auuugghh I got this short piece of.... written a while ago, but it's mostly filler. Apologies!! I swear plot and stuff is going to surface real soon! Next chapter something is gonna happen ;D

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is short, but I just wanted to get the first part down here before I forget about it and procrastinate forever. Feedback would be nice, and I would like to know if people want me to continue! Thanks for reading! More should be on the way.


End file.
